In 2001 Barclay won the GLAAD (Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Stephen F. Kolzak Award for his work in combating homophobia. He has also supported the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, and Project Angel Food, among other causes.

Barclay is the long-time partner of Christopher Mason, an executive in the food industry. The couple had airline tickets for a flight on September 11, 2001 but opted to fly to California a day earlier; otherwise, they would have been on one of the planes that were crashed into the World Trade Center.

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"After that, Paris and I came to the conclusion that we needed to make a difference in the world," Mason told Anne Stockwell of The Advocate. "For us, that meant adopting some kids."

Mindful of the fact that African-American boys are the least likely children to be adopted, Barclay and Mason chose to add two such sons to their family.

On September 14, 2008, Barclay and Mason were married in a ceremony that was at once personal and political. Their sons, William and Cyrus, served as ring-bearers. Barclay and Mason also used their nuptials as an event to raise funds for the election of Barack Obama and for Equality California's campaign against Proposition 8.

When asked by Shulman about his views on the comparison of the movement for glbtq rights and the movement for civil rights for African Americans in the 1960s, Barclay stated, "I feel that if we really believe in civil rights, just as Jesse Jackson was always saying with the Rainbow Coalition, we believe in them for everybody, and that's that. End of story. It actually irritates me when people are upset about the parallel as if, in some way, it cheapens the black civil rights movement. To have true equality for all men and women in the United States means everybody. It doesn't mean you get to pick your constituency."

In response to a further question from Shulman, Barclay expressed his support for the transgender community, declaring that "if they are people who are discriminated against, people we have a relationship with, then we should put them on our list of people that we're going to go down with."

American television sitcoms have consistently reflected the presence of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered people, often in distorted and stereotyped ways, but occasionally in ways that acknowledge our humanity and complexity.

The musical has been a significant aspect of American gay male culture, manifesting itself both in diva worship and, more recently, in the presentation of openly gay characters and shows written by gay writers primarily for gay audiences.

There has always been homosexual involvement in American musical theatre and a homosexual sensibility even in straight musicals, and recently the Broadway musical has welcomed openly homosexual themes and situations.

Lesbian and gay couples have been fighting for the freedom to marry since the dawn of the modern glbtq struggle for equality; despite some success abroad, progress toward same-sex marriage in the United States has been slow.

Proposition 8, also known as the California Marriage Protection Act, was the ballot proposition that amended the California state constitution to ban same-sex marriage; after prolonged litigation in both state and federal court, it was finally struck down in June 2013.